How did you get into the industry?
I got a part-time job in a local fish and chip shop while still at school. It was sold when I was there to a multi-millionaire who’d had chains of very successful shops. After doing A-levels, I took a year out before going to university and worked full-time as a frier in two of his shops. All through university I had holiday jobs at various shops he owned – one week I could be frying in a small back-street takeaway and the next covering for the manager of an 80-seater restaurant. I did my degree in Physics and Chemistry and a PGCE (teacher training qualification), but hated it so decided to buy a fish and chip shop instead. I had no money so I borrowed £5,000 from my mum, £15,000 from the bank and bought a third share of a shop that had gone bankrupt. After five years of very hard work, we sold that shop and my share was enough to buy my current shop and a house!
What’s your favourite food?
I tend to like British classics – fish and chips, roast dinners and good quality steak. As a child in a single-parent family where mum worked full time, I guess she had little time for cooking.
Is there a food you won’t eat?
Some say I’m a fussy eater! I don’t really like very spicy food. As a child, milk and cooked cheese made me sick, so I’ve never eaten pizza or meals with cooked cheese in them! Bell peppers really disagree with me so I avoid them and I don’t eat shellfish!
Where have you had the best fish and chips?
I guess I shouldn’t say in my own shop but I do like the Leeds/Bradford area style of fish and chips best. There really are numerous great shops within a 10-15 mile radius of where I live. If we have visitors come to stay and we go for a fish and chip restaurant meal, I’ll take them to Murgatroyds at Yeadon. In my role as judge of the Drywite Young Fish Frier of the Year, I’ve come to recognise that great fish and chips have to be of the style expected in the area where the shop is located and they are very different in different places. I recently visited Chez Fred (near Bournemouth) and I’d say they were the best fish and chips I’ve ever had outside of Yorkshire.
What side is a must with your fish and chips?
Mushy peas – simply the classic accompaniment that makes the perfect pairing.
If you could open a fish and chip shop anywhere, where would it be?
I honestly wouldn’t want to run a shop anywhere other than the area where I live now. I’ve owned Towngate Fisheries since 1997 and have no wish to be anywhere else.
Do you have a favourite restaurant?
The Box Tree in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. We’ve been going regularly for nearly 20 years now. We knew the owners from before they took it on. It’s fine dining but not at all stuck up or pretentious. It changed hands a couple of years ago and the new owner is my father-in-law’s boss and friend and it’s as good as ever. To say I can be somewhat fussy in what I eat, I’ll try things there I’d never choose elsewhere and it’s very rare there’s something I dislike.
What is your go-to drink?
A good red wine in winter and a good white wine in warm weather in summer. I only drink alcohol because I like the drink rather than to get drunk – I’m too old for hangovers!
What dish reminds you most of your childhood?
Probably fish and chips. We had them most Saturday lunchtimes and from the age of about seven or eight I was sent to get them on my bike while mum set the table and heated the tin of mushy peas (they were cheaper than from the chippy!) We used to get three small fish and four portions of chips (for the three of us, my mum, my brother and me) – this shows how much smaller portions were then but I guess it was the cheap way to fill us up!
What is your guilty food pleasure?
I’m honestly not sure I have one! I do like a big bowl of salted peanuts.
What’s been your weirdest food combination?
Not really a combination but I did have grilled guinea pig when travelling in Peru – if I’d been told it was rabbit I wouldn’t have known!
What one piece of equipment would you love to purchase for your business?
I’ve just ordered a new Florigo frying range – I’d like it to never break down!
